


But We Don't Count It

by allmylovesatonce



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 12:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9270737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmylovesatonce/pseuds/allmylovesatonce
Summary: "We first met five years ago. But we don't count it because...""I was dating a speedboat model at the time.""And I was dating a super handsome comptroller of a major US city.""And then about a year ago we bumped into each other at a bar and we haven't been able to keep our hands off each other since."AU with Jake and Amy's story from Johnny and Dora.





	

**1 year ago**

Jake walked into the bar. He had no idea how his friends convinced him to come out on his day off. Terry had promised he’d get to meet his new partner. That normally wouldn’t be enough to lure him from his apartment where he could just watch Netflix and not socialize. But Charles and Gina both insisted he come out too. He wandered into the bar, wondering how quickly he could go back home.

\-----

**_5 years ago_ **

_Jake sat, waiting for Rosa to show up. He’d had a pretty boring week. Sometimes being a beat cop was just like that. He sat holding his beer, looking up every time someone came into the bar. He was excited to meet up with his academy pal, Rosa. Hopefully she’d had a better week than him and would share stories. Maybe he could live vicariously through her stories._

_He looked at his phone and wondered if he should text his girlfriend. She was having a night out too and he didn’t want to annoy her. He also didn’t want to seem clingy. He didn’t want to be that guy. He also didn’t want his speedboat model girlfriend to think that he was keeping her on a tight leash. He had no leash. He trusted her._

_He was overthinking a simple text message._

_Thankfully, Rosa chose that moment to walk in. Jake nodded as she approached the table. “Hey, Diaz!” He cheered._

_She nodded back. Close behind her was another woman. Jake thought she was trying to get past Rosa. “I hope it’s cool, I brought someone along,” Rosa explained, pointing to the woman behind her. “We just finished up working a case together.”_

_“Oh totally cool!” Jake exclaimed. He stood up to shake the newcomer’s hand. “Hey, I’m Jake Peralta. Friend of Rosa’s. I think…” He added with a laugh._

_The woman met him for the shake. “Hi, I’m Amy Santiago. Brief colleague of Rosa’s.” Jake nodded his approval. He reached over and grabbed a chair for their new member._

_A waitress came by their table and Rosa and Amy ordered drinks. “So Jake, how do you know Rosa?” Amy asked politely, trying to make conversation._

_Jake looked over at Rosa. “We went through the academy together.”_

_“Oh that’s nice,” Amy replied. “Wait, you guys aren’t like a couple, are  you?”_

_Rosa grimaced. Jake pulled back and put his waved his hand in front of himself. “Noooo,” they both answered._

_“That would be disgusting,” Rosa replied._

_“Yeah, that would be like dating my brother,” Jake explained._

_Amy looked confused. “Your brother?” Jake just nodded._

_He took a drink of his beer. He pointed his finger between them. “So what was this case you were working on?”_

_Rosa spoke first. “It was a joint case with the 7-8. String of B & Es. The two detectives working it for the 9-9 are pointless so I did a lot of their work.” _

_Amy scoffed. “I think pointless is putting it nicely. I don’t see how Scully and Hitchcock still have their jobs.”_

_“Because our captain is basically as lazy as they are,” Rosa answered. “Anyway, so Santiago was helping me catalogue a lot of different stuff from the crime scenes and then helped me pick up the slack of the loser detectives. Ended up being a lot more work for us than we’d planned.”_

_Amy nodded. “Luckily I have a lot of experience picking up slack. My partner sucks.”_

_The three of them kept drinking and kept carrying on with cop talk. It helped Jake take his mind off how lame his week had been. He suddenly had a new person who hadn’t heard all his best cop stories yet. Rosa would roll her eyes when he would start to tell one she’d heard a ton of times but Amy seemed invested, so Jake continued. Surprisingly, it was Rosa who turned the conversation on to a more personal note._

_“So are you still seeing that girl?” she asked._

_Jake nodded. “Veronica? I am. She’s out at some boat party tonight. I think.”_

_“You think?” Amy asked. “You don’t sound very sure about this Veronica.” Jake stared at her with a confused expression. “I’m sorry. That was probably just me projecting. If I was at some party on a boat, my boyfriend would be sure he knew about it.”_

_“I feel like that says more about him than you,” Rosa replied._

_Jake nodded. “Besides, she goes on parties on boats a lot. She’s a speedboat model,” he explained._

_Amy put down her drink and held up her hand. “Hold up. You’re dating a girl named Veronica who is a speedboat model?” She asked incredulously. Jake nodded. “I’m calling foul. That sounds so fake.” Jake pulled out his phone and found a picture of the two of them. Amy stared at it closely. She nodded approvingly. “She’s cute. But that still sounds so fake. Just saying.”_

_Jake laughed as he pocketed his phone. “Oh really? So what does Mr. Amy Santiago do?”_

_Amy smirked at Jake’s challenge. “His name is Bill and he is actually the comptroller of a major US city.” Jake looked puzzled. “Okay, it’s New York City. He’s the comptroller of New York City.”_

_“Are you kidding me?” Jake asked. Amy shook her head. “How do you even meet the comptroller?”_

_Amy shrugged. “I met him when I became a notary.”_

_“That would be the most hilarious double date ever,” Rosa interjected. Jake looked over at her. He felt bad, but he’d almost forgotten Rosa was there. Amy laughed nervously. Rosa stood up and announced she was going to the bar._

_There was silence for a bit between Jake and Amy. Finally, Jake thought of something to say. “So how do you like working at the 7-8?”_

_“It’s pretty good,” Amy said with a shrug. “My partner sucks, as I’ve already mentioned. But it’s okay. I manage.” She took a sip of her drink. “You? How do you like working at the 8-5?”_

_Jake nodded happily. “No complaints. This week was pretty boring, but that’s probably a good thing for the city.” They both laughed heartily._

_Jake didn’t know what it was about Amy, but things just seemed easy with her. She was funny and really seemed to enjoy all of his cop stories. She had some pretty compelling ones herself. Hanging out with her and Rosa had made for a pretty entertaining night for Jake. He always liked meeting new people that he could easily get along with._

_Jake felt his phone vibrate and he looked down to see a text from Rosa._

**_Hey, sorry. Just got called back to work really quickly. Tell Amy. Sorry to bail._ **

_Jake thought it was weird but texted her back. He looked up at Amy. She was looking at him curiously. “Rosa got called back in for some reason,” he explained as he held up his phone for proof._

_“Oh,” she said. Did she sound disappointed?_

_“I was going to get one more before I left, if you…” Jake risked, trailing off._

_Amy nodded happily. “Yeah, one more sounds good.”_

_They stood up and walked to the bar together. As they waited on their drinks, Amy turned to him. “Oh! You mentioned Die Hard earlier, right?” Jake nodded. “Weirdly enough, one of my friends, she’s into weird things, but she and a couple of people from her drama group are doing a dramatic reading of Die Hard in the park this Sunday,” Amy informed him._

_Jake gaped at her. “What? That’s a thing?” Amy shrugged. “That sounds both terrible and awesome at the same time.”_

_Amy laughed. “That’s most of what my friend does. Terrible and awesome at the same time.”_

_Jake chuckled. “I have to go to this!” Jake said excitedly._

_“Well I’m sure I could get you a ticket,” Amy assured him as she reached for her beer._

_They walked back to their table. “You’d do that?” Jake asked._

_Amy shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. Besides, I’m basically required to go, so it would be nice to actually know someone normal there. Or at least moderately normal,” Amy teased._

_Jake laughed loudly as they sat back down. “Real question though,” he asked. She looked at him seriously. “If I start quoting it along with them, will I get kicked out?”_

_Amy laughed almost hysterically. Jake loved making her laugh. But that didn’t mean anything. He loved making everyone laugh. Still though, he couldn’t deny that he’d had a really great time with her tonight. He looked down and saw that he had a text from Veronica. Apparently her boat party had ended and she wanted to know where he was. He couldn’t really say that he was at a bar with a woman she’d never heard him mention. He drank his beer quickly so he could leave a bit faster._

_As they were leaving, Amy stopped him. “Oh wait, I don’t have your number.” Jake looked confused. Why did she need his number? Yeah, they’d had a fun night but they were both seeing other people. Exchanging numbers made it feel too skeevy for his taste._

_“For the reading in the park…” Amy explained. Jake nodded quickly. Damn it. He really wanted to go to that._

_“Oh yeah,” he replied. He grabbed his phone. It didn’t mean anything. “So will Bill be there?” Jake asked casually._

_Amy laughed. “Yeah right. He doesn’t do anything like that. He also isn’t that big a fan of Kylie.” She paused. “Will you need an extra ticket for Veronica?”_

_Jake smirked. “Nah, she hates Die Hard.”_

_“Well then she can’t be mad at you for hanging out with another woman on Sunday,” Amy decided._

_She seemed to feel at least somewhat weird about them making plans together. At least Jake wasn’t alone in that. Nonetheless, he did look forward to hanging out with her again. She was a fun person and it was nice to have someone to swap cop stories with._

_“So I’ll see you Sunday?” Amy asked hesitantly. Jake nodded happily. She smiled brightly. “It was great to meet you, Jake,” she said, sticking out her hand._

_Jake smiled back at her. “It was great to meet you too, Amy.”_

_Sunday was as weird and fun as he’d expected._

_Somehow Sunday’s reading in the park turned into a bar hangout which turned into a coffeehouse trivia night which turned into another hangout which led to Jake and Amy spending lots of time hanging out together. As friends. Only friends._

\-----

Jake saw Charles and Gina sitting at a table, already with empties sitting in front of them.

“Jake!” They both cheered excitedly.

Jake stared at them. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Maybe a little here, maybe a little there,” Gina answered evasively.

“It’s so good to see you, Jake,” Charles shouted. “I missed you so much today!”

Jake shushed him a bit. He wondered how much of a head start his friends had on him. Maybe they were all that far gone and no one would notice if he slipped out and went back home.

He had no idea where Rosa was. He saw Sarge over by the bar. He headed over that way.

\-----

_Jake slid into the chair across from Amy. “Hey!”_

_“Hey!” She greeted. “You’re late.”_

_“Do you realize you say that every time?” Jake reminded her. “Just get used to it already.”_

_Amy shook her head. “No. There is no reason to accept someone’s lateness. Maybe you should just leave earlier.”_

_Jake scoffed. “Believe me, I could if I would.”_

_“What?” Amy asked, confused._

_Jake just shook his head. “Never mind.” He smirked at her. “So what’s new?”_

_Amy was staring just over his shoulder. He turned to look but she grabbed his arm and yanked. “Don’t look. That girl we saw here last time is back.”_

_“The one who was breaking up with her boyfriend?”_

_Amy nodded excitedly. “Except she looks like she’s breaking up with this one too. I don’t get it.” She looked back at Jake. “Anyway, how are you? How’s Veronica?” She said Veronica’s name with an air of disdain._

_“Why do you always say it like that?” Jake asked._

_“Like what?”_

_“Like she’s really fancy and you’re her maid or something,” he explained._

_Amy looked startled. “Do I do that?” Jake nodded exaggeratedly. Amy grimaced. “Well my bad. Maybe it’s because she’s a model and I’m just a cop…”_

_“Just a cop? Please, Amy. You do more to better the world than she does,” Jake offered._

_Amy looked touched. “Aww, that’s really sweet.” She paused thoughtfully. “You don’t say that type of thing to her do you?”_

_Jake laughed. “Hell no. You’d be finding my dead body in some river because she threw me off the boat she was modeling.” Amy bit her lip nervously. “She’s not really going to murder me, Amy.”_

_Amy shook her head quickly. “It’s not that.”_

_“What’s up?”_

_“I was trying to think of how to approach a subject with you…”_

_Jake stared at her blankly. “It’s me. Just ask.”_

_Amy nodded. “Okay, I was wanting to suggest that maybe you and Veronica and me and Bill go on a double date,” she said through clenched teeth._

_“Why?” Jake asked._

_Amy sighed. “We’ve become really good friends over the last couple months. And I think it would be fun. I’d like to get to know Veronica and Bill wants to meet you. It could be fun.”_

_Jake looked unsure. “It could also be terrible.”_

_“Really? You won’t even consider it?” Amy whined._

_Jake stared at her. He sighed. “Fine. I’ll ask Veronica about it. But if she says no…”_

_“Then I will accept that,” Amy answered._

_“But you have to realize that the four of us are not necessarily going to be the most compatible group,” Jake reminded her._

_“I think it will be fun,” Amy repeated._

_“I think you’re crazy, but we’ll at least try,” Jake offered. Amy smiled happily and somehow he felt better._

_He didn’t really know how he and Amy had gotten so close recently. He hadn’t shared as much with Rosa as he had with Amy and he’d known Rosa for a lot longer. There was just an ease between them. She was a really great friend to him. The problem was, Jake was worried that sometimes she veered into ‘more than friend’ territory. He enjoyed spending time with her. Sometimes he preferred it. After a hard day at work, Amy would be more understanding than just about anyone else in his life. She knew the hardships of being a cop. He felt guilty every time he compared Veronica to Amy._

_He really didn’t think that the double date was a good idea. But Amy seemed so excited about it and he didn’t want to crush her excitement. He was pretty sure it was just going to add to his ongoing confusion about their relationship though. He really enjoyed spending time with Amy. The problem was, lately, there’d been a lot of times he’d preferred Amy’s company to his girlfriend’s. Jake was not about cheating. He would never do that. But he couldn’t help but acknowledge that Amy was more interesting. Veronica was beautiful and fun. But Amy was beautiful and fun and_ interesting _. She challenged him and engaged with him in a way that Veronica never really did._

_Basically, this double date was going to really mess with his head. Maybe being aware of it going in would help._

_But probably not._

\-----

“Hey Sarge!” Jake cheered as he clapped Terry on the back.

“Jake! You made it!” Terry exclaimed as he turned from the person next to him. “I’m happy you’re here. I want to introduce you to your new partner!”

Jake suddenly felt nervous. Whoever this person was could potentially determine how much Jake enjoyed or hated work for several years. Terry stepped back to make way for the woman next to him. The moment she turned to look at him, recognition filled him.

“Jake,” Terry started, putting his arm behind the woman approaching Jake. “This is your new partner –”

Jake interrupted him. “Amy?”

\-----

_Amy held her hands over her face as Jake teased her. “Can you finally just admit that I was right and you were wrong?” Jake pushed._

_Amy emerged from behind her hands. “I just don’t get how it went so wrong.”_

_“Because the four people at that meal were about as different from each other as you can imagine,” Jake reminded her._

_“But we all have common interests,” Amy lamented._

_“No. You and I have common interests but as a whole we didn’t. Bill’s interest is you. Veronica’s interest is me…I think. It just wasn’t going to work,” Jake maintained._

_“Okay, fine,” Amy sighed. “You were right. I was wrong.”_

_Jake beamed. “Amy Santiago, I’m going to cherish those words forever.”_

_“You suck.”_

_Jake just laughed triumphantly. “So I gotta ask,” he started. Amy looked over at him. “Bill hated me, right?”_

_Amy paused. He could tell she was debating between lying or not. “Well…”_

_“Just be straight with me.”_

_“I don’t think he liked your sense of humor. He didn’t think you were very funny,” Amy explained._

_Jake gasped. He laid his hand over his heart. “I said be straight with me. I didn’t say wreck me.”_

_Amy held up her hands in defense. “I think you’re really funny. But his sense of humor is…different.” She paused and stared down Jake for a beat. “What did Veronica think of me?”_

_Jake swallowed harshly. “Uh, she loved you,” he replied unconvincingly._

_Amy stared blankly at him. “Jake, you do realize that part of my job is to spot liars, right?”_

_Jake sighed. “Fine. She was not your biggest fan.”_

_“Why? I thought I was so pleasant,” Amy whined._

_Jake paused. “She thought you were a bit…um, snooty.”_

_“Snooty?” Amy practically screamed._

_“Shhh,” Jake chided. Amy nodded in apology. “I think she just thought you were overly intellectual and it made her feel bad.”_

_“What?” Amy gasped._

_“She said you used a lot of big words and it made it seem like you were trying to show off how much smarter you were,” Jake explained._

_Amy gaped at him. Suddenly she closed her mouth, looking thoughtful. She looked back at Jake. “Is it because I used the word ‘juxtaposition’ in conversation?” Amy asked guiltily._

_“Well I’m sure that didn’t help,” Jake replied. “I mean how does that even come up in normal conversation?”_

_Amy pointed at him almost threateningly. “I will not apologize for having a well-developed vocabulary.”_

_“No one’s asking you to, Santiago.”_

_Amy sighed and slumped in her chair. “I should have just listened to you. I’m sorry I put you through that.”_

_Jake chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad.” Amy glared at him. “Okay, it was a nightmare, but it could have been worse.”_

_“How?” Amy asked exasperatedly._

_“Veronica could have thrown a drink in your face when you used the word ‘renaissance,’” Jake offered._

_Amy stared at him, thinking. “That’s true,” she conceded._

_Jake smirked and clinked his coffee mug with hers._

\-----

“Jake?” she replied, staring back at him disbelievingly. He couldn’t believe he was standing in front of Amy Santiago again. “Oh my God! It’s been so long!” She exclaimed, pulling him in for a quick hug.

“Yeah! What has it been? Three years?” Jake asked, trying to recall the last time he saw Amy.

“So I take it you two know each other?” Terry interjected.

Amy and Jake both looked back at the sergeant like they’d forgotten he was there.

“Umm, yeah, we’re old friends,” Jake explained. Of course there was so much more to it than that. But he kept that to himself.

\-----

_Jake was sitting in his patrol car thinking about everything that had happened over the last three months of his life. He and Amy had grown into great friends. It was one of those friendships that started out simple and just exploded into a full blown friendship in no time at all. He couldn’t help but wonder how that had affected other aspects of his life._

_His relationship with Veronica was certainly strained. Granted, Jake didn’t think he could blame it all on his newfound friendship with Amy. Their relationship was odd to begin with. Jake was never really sure why Veronica had agreed to go out with him. Or how they’d stayed together for so long. It had been ten months. And while Jake really liked Veronica, he wasn’t sure that he loved her. And he didn’t really think that she loved him either. He didn’t know why they were still together. There were not many common interests between them. And as of lately, they’d been spending littler and littler time together. Of course, some of that had been due to the amount of time he’d been spending with Amy._

_He usually would try to only spend time with Amy when Veronica was busy with a show or a party. But that wasn’t always the case. If Veronica wasn’t busy, Jake would invite her to join them. She never accepted. Especially after she met and immediately disliked Amy. Jake couldn’t help but wonder if Amy had been having issues with Bill. For her happiness, he hoped not. He hoped he was the only one in a mess of a relationship where neither of the people really cared to spend time together yet were both too cowardly to call it off._

_Jake figured what he really had to do was make a decision. Did he want to keep spending time with Veronica or did he want to keep spending time with Amy? The activities didn’t matter. But he knew that one or the other would have to go._

_He went to a bar by himself to sulk and work out his problem. He felt a pull toward Veronica because they’d been in a relationship for ten months. But he felt a pull toward Amy because they actually were great together. They made way more sense than he and Veronica did. But Amy had a boyfriend so he really shouldn’t have been even having those thoughts about her. He hated himself for all the thoughts running through his head._

_He was finishing his second beer when she spotted him._

_“Jake!” Amy called from across the bar. He turned back and saw her fighting past people to get to him. “What are you doing here?” She asked happily._

_He held up his empty beer bottle. “Just having a drink. What about you?”_

_She pointed back to the group she had been with. “I’m out with some of the guys. One of them had a big day so we’re celebrating,” she explained. She looked at him, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes. “Are you here alone?” He looked down and nodded. She sat down on the barstool next to him. “Why?” she prodded._

_He shrugged. “Just had a long day,” he reasoned._

_She looked confused. “So you’re drinking alone? That doesn’t make sense. Come over and sit with us!”_

_He just shook his head. “Nah, I’m okay. I don’t want to intrude. Thanks though.”_

_She leaned closer and pinned him with a scrutinizing gaze. “Are you okay?”_

_He looked over and met her eyes for the first time. He took a deep breath. “Sure, I am.” She stared at him blankly until he caved. “I just have a lot on my mind right now,” he confessed._

_“Do you want to talk about it?” Amy asked quietly. He shook his head. She nodded thoughtfully. “Well how about I tell you about my day?”_

_Jake looked at her quizzically. “You’re not gonna push me and make me talk about it?”_

_She shook her head. “If you don’t want to talk, I’m not gonna make you. I’ll just talk about my day until you feel like chiming in. Y’know with either what’s bothering you or your thoughts on my crazy day.”_

_“You came here to be with your coworkers. You don’t have to stay here with me, Ames,” Jake offered._

_She looked at him like he was dumb. “I can drink with them any time.”_

_Jake stared at her in awe as she started talking about interviewing clowns at the scene of an accident. He could tell she was trying to make him laugh. She never pressed to make him talk about why he was upset._

_And five minutes into her story, his mind was made up._

\-----

“That’s great!” Terry cheered. “How great that you guys will be partners now.”

Jake hadn’t really processed why he was seeing Amy. He’d completely forgotten that he was getting a new partner. “Wait, you’re my new partner?” Jake asked, it all finally clicking.  

“I guess so,” Amy said with a smile. “You know, I feel like I should have put this together sooner. They kept saying Peralta but I didn’t ever think it would be you.”

“That’s me, Jake Peralta.”

“I’ll let you guys catch up,” Terry said, excusing himself. “I think I need to go check in on Charles and Gina.”

Jake and Amy watched Terry leave. Jake ordered a beer, trying to think of what to say. A lot of time had passed since the last time he saw Amy. And a lot of things had happened by the end of their friendship.

“So, um, how are things?” Jake asked lamely.

\-----

_“I can’t believe you guys broke up!” Amy stated, seemingly shocked._

_Jake stared at her blankly. “Come on, Amy. She’s out of the picture. You can say how you really felt.”_

_Amy smirked. “Okay, there was a little part of me that wondered how you guys were ever together. But since your relationship with her predated your friendship with me, I didn’t know if it was my place to say.”_

_Jake laughed. “You could have said something.”_

_Amy nodded as she took a bite of her soup. “Are you okay?”_

_He shrugged. “I’m fine.” She glared at him. “No, really, I’m fine.”_

_“Jake you don’t have to pull that fake crap with me. We’re too good of friends by this point,” Amy scolded._

_“Honestly, I’m okay. I mean being single again sucks, but I’m okay that my relationship with her is over,” Jake assured her._

_“So is the saddest part for you is that you can’t go around saying that you’re dating a speedboat model?” Amy asked with a devilish grin._

_“Hey! I’m not that superficial,” Jake defended. Amy stared him down until he caved. “Okay, yeah, it was a cool thing to get to say. Not many people get to say that, Amy.”_

_They ate in silence for a few minutes. Jake hoped Amy wouldn’t push him further to explain what the breaking point of his relationship was. That would be a tough conversation to get through. He’d have to lie and she’s good at spotting liars._

_Finally Amy interrupted the silence. “Well, I guess we’ll have to do more stuff to get your mind off of your breakup,” she stated plainly. Like there was no other factor to this situation. Like her own boyfriend wasn’t a concern._

_“I do actually have Nets tickets. I was going to take my girlfriend, but that ship sailed. Wanna go?” Jake asked almost excitedly._

_Amy grinned. “Really? Me? You aren’t gonna ask one of the guys?”_

_Jake shrugged. “Nah. Besides, you did tell me once that you’d never been to a basketball game before, so…”_

_“I did say that. I believe I also said it was by choice,” Amy joked. Jake gave her his best puppy dog eyes. She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Fine, I’ll go. But not cool use of the puppy dog eyes, man. Not fair.” Jake laughed as he took another bite of his sandwich._

\-----

“Uh, good!” Amy exclaimed. “Yeah, things are good. Got my transfer in, so I was certainly happy with that. I’m excited to be at the Nine-Nine. How about you? It’s been so long! How long have you been at the Nine-Nine?”

“I’ve been here for two and half years,” Jake answered. “And it’s been great. I love working here. It’s cool to work with Rosa again.” Jake took a drink of his beer. He wanted to ask it. He needed to ask it. He didn’t know if he had the courage to ask it. “So did you just make detective?” he asked. It wasn’t what he wanted to ask, but it would do for the time being.

Amy took a sip of her drink. “No. I actually got bumped up within the 7-8 but I just wanted a change. And I was lucky enough to get moved over here.”

Jake nodded, soaking in the information. He took a deep breath and asked. “So how’s Bill?”

\-----

_“Yeah! Go Nets!” Jake cheered. He sat back down in his seat and noticed Amy laughing at him. “What’s so funny, Santiago?”_

_She shook her head, still laughing. “Oh nothing, Peralta, it is just so interesting watching you in your natural habitat.” He glared at her before he stole some of her popcorn._

_“Will you at least admit that you’re having fun?” he asked._

_She looked at him skeptically. With a shrug she replied, “I guess it’s not that bad.” He laughed and ate more of her popcorn._

_“So what’s Bill up to today?” He didn’t know why, but he always felt compelled to bring up Bill._

_Amy’s face turned sour. Jake hated that a sprout of hope sprung in his stomach. “He’s working. Because all he ever does is work. Why would he not be working on a Saturday evening?” She sounded bitter._

_“I’m sorry,” Jake replied. And he really was. “You okay?”_

_She looked over at him, noting his earnest expression. “Yeah. It just gets annoying. I mean how can he be mad about how much time we spend together if he is never available for me?”_

_Jake snapped his head in her direction. “What?”_

_Amy grimaced. “Oh, had I never mentioned that little bit? Yeah, he isn’t exactly thrilled that I spend a lot of time with you. But whatever. It’s not like there’s anything between us,” Amy reasoned._

_Jake felt his stomach drop. Yeah, he knew she was still with her boyfriend. And sure, he’d never really come to terms with how he felt about her. But hearing that pretty much confirmed how he felt. He had feelings for Amy Santiago. And the worst part was that she would never feel the same way._

_“Yeah,” he choked out. “That would be crazy. We’re just friends.” She nodded in agreement, taking a sip from her drink._

_Jake was paying attention to the game, looking around at the crowd. Suddenly he couldn’t really meet Amy’s eyes. He needed to get over it. It was stupid. She was still his friend and their friendship meant a lot to him. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he was startled when the guy behind them leaned forward._

_“Hey guys! You’re on the kiss cam!” he said loudly._

_Jake looked up at the screen quickly. He was shocked to see them on there. He shook his head and motioned his hands in front of them. He was trying to explain that they were just friends. The cam switched couples. Jake sighed in relief. But then it came back. Jake shook his head again. He heard Amy huff next to him. “This is stupid,” she said. He turned to ask her what she meant when she leaned in to kiss him. She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his face toward hers. She kissed him hard, releasing him quickly. Jake felt stunned. He looked up and the kiss cam had moved on._

_“What was that?” Jake asked._

_Amy shrugged. “It was just gonna keep coming back. It was no big deal.”_

_Jake nodded in understanding. She was wrong though. It was a big deal. He knew for sure now. He definitely had feelings for Amy._

\-----

Amy took a quick drink from her glass. She seemed to be steeling herself. “I wouldn’t know. We broke up awhile back.”

“Oh,” was all Jake could think to say at first. “Sorry to hear that.”

Amy scoffed. “Yeah, because you just loved him.”

Jake laughed. “Well to be fair, Amy, he didn’t really love me either. And I tried. Remember that time the three of us got lunch? I tried to be as boring as possible. And he still didn’t like me.”

Amy laughed loudly. “I do remember that lunch. That was so uncomfortable.”

Jake grinned. “Not anymore uncomfortable than that lovely double date you made us go on.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “You need to let that go. You held that over my head for months. Well after you had broken up with Veronica. Yes, it went terribly, but I think we can let it go.”

Jake doubled over laughing. “Damn, you really held on to that resentment.”

“I think it’s seeing you,” Amy joked. “It’s all coming back.”

Jake couldn’t help but agree with Amy’s statement. Laughing with her over drinks was making it all come back. It reminded him of all the feelings he thought he’d buried and forgotten. They weren’t as forgotten as he’d have liked. She was always the one who got away even if she was never with him to begin with.

“It’s really good to see you, Jake,” Amy said with a bright smile. “It’s been way too long.”

Jake nodded, holding his glass up to clink hers. “I agree. Way too long.”

They continued chatting, eventually sitting down at the bar. They outlasted everyone else at the bar. He’d never even really talked to his other friends. Jake walked Amy to her car, reminiscent of old times. She gave him a hug, holding on for longer than he’d expected her to. She released him and stepped back with a smile.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow…Partner!” She said with a laugh as she pointed finger guns at him.

Jake laughed too. He furrowed his brow at her. “Really? Finger guns?”

Amy shrugged. “What do you want me to do? Point my real gun at you?”

Jake held his hands up in surrender. “Good point. That would probably be terrifying.” Jake started to walk past her. He patted her on the arm. “See you tomorrow.”

He walked over to his car, his eyes lingering on Amy. She got in her car and sat there for a minute. Jake got to his car as she started to drive away. He did the same thing and sat thinking in his car. He couldn’t believe the way the night had turned out. He’d planned to leave pretty quickly after he’d gotten there. Leave it to Amy Santiago to change his plans completely. He couldn’t believe that she was his new partner. He couldn’t believe how quickly all his unresolved feelings had rushed back. While he was excited to be partnered with Amy, he knew one thing was certain. He was screwed. 

\-----

_“Do you remember Amy?” Jake asked cagily. Rosa stared blankly at him. “You worked a case with her a few months ago.” She still didn’t show recognition. “You brought her to the bar when you were meeting me.”_

_“Oh!” Rosa realized. “You mean Santiago? Yeah I remember her. Why?”_

_“Just curious if you remembered her. We actually started hanging out a lot after that. Like a lot,” Jake added._

_Rosa looked curious. “What about your girlfriend?”_

_Jake shrugged. “We broke up.”_

_“Why are you telling me all this?” Rosa interrogated._

_“Because I did something really stupid and I need advice,” Jake explained._

_“Is it illegal?”_

_“No,” Jake replied quickly. Rosa nodded for him to continue. “I fell for Amy,” he said with a sigh._

_Rosa groaned. “You know what I like about us, Peralta? We meet up every so often and get a beer together. We talk about cop stuff and that’s it. You ask me a cursory question about my life and I do the same to you. We don’t talk feelings.”_

_Jake huffed. “I’m sorry, Rosa. I had to talk to someone. I’m going out of my mind.”_

_“Why don’t you talk to her about it?”_

_Jake chuckled. “Good one, Rosa. You’re really hilarious.”_

_“I’m serious. If you like her, you should tell her,” Rosa replied._

_“I can’t tell her. She still has a boyfriend.”_

_Rosa shrugged. “Then stop seeing her.”_

_Jake ran his hands over his face. “I can’t. We have a really great time together. We’ve gotten really close. It would be weird if I just stopped seeing her.”_

_“Plus you don’t want to because you like her,” Rosa added with a knowing look._

_Jake sighed. “Yeah.”_

_Rosa leaned forward, pinning Jake with a serious look. “Look, you have two ways to go about this. One, you can suffer in silence, falling for the girl you spend a lot of time with, probably eventually leading to things getting weird between you two. Or two, you can tell her how you feel and go from there.”_

_Jake stared at her thoughtfully. “Well, if those are my options, I guess I’ll have to go with number one.”_

_Rosa rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”_

\-----

Jake strolled into work and saw Amy sitting at the desk across from his. “Morning, Partner,” he cheered like he hadn’t spent way too long last night laying awake thinking about her.

She looked up with a bright smile. “Partner,” she replied with a nod of her head.

Terry walked by their desks. “Hey guys, briefing room, five minutes!” They both nodded.

Jake jumped up with his coffee. He looked back at Amy. “You coming?”

“I just have one more thing to finish and then I’ll be there,” she said, not turning her attention from her computer. “Save me a seat?” She asked, looking up at him.

He smirked. “Of course.”

He walked in to the briefing room and sat at one of the tables in the front. Gina and Rosa were sitting at the table directly behind him. “Oh hey, Jake! Didn’t see you at the bar last night,” Rosa said conspiratorially.

Jake turned around. “What? I was there. Even on my day off I went to hang out with you losers.”

“Oh you probably didn’t see him, Rosa,” Gina began, “because he spent the whole night chatting up his girlfriend. Oh I’m sorry, _partner_ ,” she added with an evil laugh.

Jake rolled his eyes. “She is just my partner. We hadn’t seen each other in three years. We were just catching up.”

“Oh is that what you call it now?” Gina asked. “Because from where I was sitting, it looked like you were making love eyes at each other all night.”

“Well _your_ eyes must be mistaken because that’s not what was happening. Your eyes are dumb,” Jake retorted lamely.

“Why are eyes dumb?” Amy asked, walking in and sitting down next to Jake.

“Oh no reason, Amy,” Gina said in a way too sweet voice. “No reason at all,” she added, turning her knowing gaze back on Jake. Jake glared at her.

“Okay, Squad, let’s get this briefing started,” Terry said, walking into the room.

“Yes! Let’s!” Jake cheered, turning around in his chair. The sergeant gave him a weird look. “What? I am all about work!”

“Okay, Peralta and Santiago, I have a case for you two,” Terry started, pulling out the case file. “And it’s a murder.”

“Cool, our first case as partners,” Amy said happily next to Jake.

“Oh, that’s so great!” Gina cheered from behind them.

Jake turned around and glared at her again. “Would you stop it?” he whispered.

Gina chuckled. “Oh Honey, I haven’t even started.”

\-----

_Jake did what he said and he kept hanging out with Amy. And for the most part it wasn’t awkward. They still met up for coffee or a meal pretty much once a week. Jake worried that he’d abandoned other friends in the months that he’d been friends with Amy. He couldn’t help but spend time with her. Aside from his ever-growing feelings for her, she was just fun to be around. She was smart and funny and sometimes dorky and he loved it. He didn’t know exactly how she felt, but he knew for sure that she at least appreciated their friendship as much as he did._

_It was ten months after they met when things started getting weird. And Jake was pretty sure it wasn’t his fault. Amy was venting to him one time over drinks about this fight she’d had with Bill. She was explaining the fight they’d had in great detail and then she just stopped. She’d paused and grabbed her drink to cover. She started guzzling it back. When she’d started talking again, she’d started being really vague. Jake was pretty convinced that meant the fight involved him. But he didn’t want to press her for information._

_Slowly their hangouts faded. It wasn’t all together. But they would go for much longer periods of times without seeing each other. And then when they did see each other, it felt strained. Amy seemed off every time they were together. He was glad he’d kept his feelings to himself. The awkwardness happened without even involving his feelings for her. Jake had no idea why everything got thrown off. But he figured Bill was involved._

_He couldn’t blame Bill for not liking Amy spending so much time with another guy. But he wished it hadn’t started the wrecking of his friendship with Amy. Putting his feelings aside, he still just wanted to be around her. She’d been a positive influence in his life ever since he’d met her. He could feel himself losing her and he hated it._

_Suddenly Amy started being cryptic and pushing off plans. She would come up with lots of different excuses not to see him. Or when she did see him, someone else would be there like Bill or Kylie. Jake was seeing less and less of her without explanation._

_The last time he saw Amy they met up at a bar. She was really quiet the whole night. Jake felt like he was talking to a wall. As they were leaving, he’d made a suggestion to get lunch the next week. She just nodded and said it sounded good. They’d figure out the details later._

_They never met up for lunch. She came up with an excuse to miss it then. And after that she just stopped replying to his texts. Eventually Jake gave up. He’d lost his best friend. And for the life of him, he couldn’t really figure out why._

\-----

Jake’s determination to win an argument had sometimes worked in his favor before. Usually it turned sour and he lost the argument and ended up in a whole other argument. This time, Jake was extra determined to prove to Charles why he was right. His extra determination led him to planting a recording device in the break room so he could hear how much Charles slurped while he ate. Charles refused to believe it, so Jake was going to prove it.

However, he could never have imagined the things he’d overhear on that recording device.

He skipped past everyone’s conversations and other boring things. But when he came across a conversation between Rosa and Amy, he just couldn’t skip it. He knew he should. He was invading their personal privacy. But he heard his name thrown around, and he froze.

It had been about a week since Amy started working at the Nine-Nine. They were still in the middle of their murder case. They hadn’t really spent time together outside of work, but they’d been working extra-long hours. He’d accepted that his feelings for Amy had returned with a vengeance. But he was determined to not let it affect his work or his partnership with her. It was probably the same as it had been three years before. She only saw him as a friend. That’s what he’d always assumed. But then he heard her talking to Rosa.

“You and Jake used to spend a ton of time together, right?” Rosa asked. He’d missed the beginning of the conversation. He had no idea why he’d come up.

“Yeah, we did,” Amy confirmed. “We were really close for a while.” There was a pause. “Until I ruined it.” Jake gasped to himself. He was sitting alone in the evidence lockup, listening to it on headphones. He hoped no one was around to hear him gasp.

“How’d you ruin it?”

He heard Amy sigh. “I just started ghosting on him. I felt bad. I still do. But my boyfriend hated how much I hung around Jake. He gave me an ultimatum. Said it was him or Jake. And so I cut out Jake.” Jake almost felt vindicated knowing it wasn’t his fault, knowing that his suspicions had been right. It was Bill’s fault.

“But that was stupid. I didn’t really love Bill at that point anyway. I was just too scared to leave him. Too scared to accept my feelings,” Amy continued.

“Ew, your feelings?” Jake heard Rosa say.

“Yeah, I, um,” Amy spoke, seemingly flustered, “I kinda had feelings for Jake. But I figured he only saw me as a friend so I didn’t want to risk the relationship I had. And that ended anyway, so…” Amy trailed off. Jake felt his stomach lurch. All that time he’d had feelings for Amy, she’d had feelings for him too? What the hell? Why had they never figured that out? He should have said something.

“You still like him,” Rosa said simply.  
“What?” Amy practically shrieked. “No, I don’t.”

“You realize that’s completely unconvincing.”

Amy laughed, seemingly nervously. “He’s my partner.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings for him,” Rosa stated.

He could hear Amy sputtering. Finally she sighed. “Look, maybe I do, but please don’t say anything. I don’t want him to think I’m weird and obsessed with him or something. Okay? We have a really great partnership and I don’t want to ruin that by confessing my feelings or something stupid like that. He never saw me as more than a friend.”

Rosa laughed. He could hear her stand up and walk further away. “Yeah, actually he did. He told me he did. Back then.”

“What?” Jake yelled at the same time Amy did on the recording.

Jake laid his head in his hands. How could Rosa just expose him like that?

Jake couldn’t process all of what he’d heard by himself. He ran out of the lockup and to Charles’s desk. “Hey Buddy, can I talk to you for a sec?”

Charles looked up, excited. “Of course you can!” Jake grabbed his arm, pulling him from his chair and down the hall. Jake opened an empty observation room and dragged Charles in after him.

“Okay, you know our fight about how you slurp too much?” Jake started.

“Jake, I don’t slurp too much when I eat. You’re wrong. You’re my best friend, but you’re wrong,” Charles retorted.

“Whatever, this isn’t about that. So I planted a bug in the break room to prove to you how much you slurp. Which I have the evidence and it’s damning. But that’s not the point. I was listening through all the recorded audio and I overheard this conversation between Amy and Rosa where Amy admitted that she had feelings for me. Both three years ago when we were friends and now. What do I do?”

Charles’s eyes lit up. “You like Amy?” he exclaimed. Jake shushed him quickly.

Jake just nodded. “I never really got over my feelings for her. I just buried them but when she came back into my life they just came back. What do I do? I mean we’re good as partners. I don’t want to mess that up.”

“She said she likes you too, right? Then how would you mess it up?”

“Do you know me at all, Charles?” Jake asked.

“Yes I do. And if you’ve had feelings for this girl for over three years and you do nothing about it now, _that’s_ what’s gonna ruin your partnership,” Charles affirmed.

“Damn it,” Jake sighed. “You’re right. But I have no idea how to go about this.”

Charles stepped closer to Jake and placed his hand on Jake’s chest. Jake was weirded out. “Just listen to your heart, Jakey.”

Jake backed away and toward the door. He sighed. “We’ll see.”

It took them a week and a half, but Jake and Amy solved their murder case. They were both really excited so they went out for a drink to celebrate. Jake was determined to just keep it professional. He had no idea how he was going to admit his feelings for her.

They were just chatting, but Jake was thoroughly entertained. It felt like it had before. Like they had not missed three years of each other’s lives. They were a few drinks in when Jake looked up and spotted a familiar face.

“Oh my god,” he muttered, turning toward Amy.

“What?” She asked, slightly leaning into him.

“It’s my ex.”

“One I know?” Amy inquired.

“Yep. Veronica.”

Amy’s head started swiveling as she attempted to find where Veronica was. “Oh God! I shouldn’t have made eye contact with her. She’s coming over here,” Amy shrieked, latching on to Jake’s arm.

“What? Amy!” Jake chided.

“Wow, she did not age well,” Amy said with a snicker as she watched Veronica crossing the bar.

“Amy!” Jake exclaimed with a laugh. He looked at her incredulously.

She held her hands up. “What? For a model, she doesn’t look that great.”

“You’re terrible,” Jake stated.

“Oh come on. You know I never liked her. Sorry for being a bit catty,” Amy apologized.

“Jake?” Veronica asked hesitantly.

“Veronica!” Jake responded, full of fake enthusiasm. “Wow, it’s been a long time.”

“Yeah. How’ve you been?” She asked.

“Uh, good. Good. You?” Jake asked in return.

“Good. I’m here with my boyfriend,” she explained, gesturing across the bar.

Jake nodded. “I’m here with –”

“Amy!” Amy exclaimed, reaching out the hand that wasn’t wrapped through Jake’s arm. “We’ve met before. It was a while back though.”

Veronica nodded vaguely. “Right. So are you two…”

“Together? Yeah,” Amy lied. “It’s been a while now, actually.” She wrapped her other hand around Jake’s arm. He just tried to play along.

“Gotcha. Well it was really something running into you guys,” Veronica said, reeking of fakeness.

“Yeah, you too,” Jake replied. Veronica turned and walked back to the other side of the bar. Amy watched her leave. Jake turned and looked at Amy with a scrutinizing gaze. “What the hell was that?” he asked.

She looked over at him innocently. “What do you mean?” Jake stared her down. “Okay fine. I was helping you win your break up, okay? She was clearly flaunting the fact that she had a boyfriend so I decided you needed a girlfriend. Whatever.”

Jake laughed loudly. “Wow thank you so much for your help.”

Amy shook her head with a grin. “You’re welcome even though that thank you seemed fake.” Jake kept laughing. “Okay, it’s been years, so I’m asking. How did you two ever end up together?”

Jake grinned. “Yeah, it wasn’t ever something I advertised.” Amy looked at him with a confused look. “She was really into cops. She started dating me because I was a cop. But miraculously that wasn’t enough to keep a relationship going. I mean it’s hard to stay with someone when you get more from a friendship than you do from your relationship.”

Amy stared at him. “Is that why you broke up? Did you break up because of me?”

Jake stared at her for a second. He had never meant to wander into this conversation. “Umm…kind of.” Amy gaped at him. “I mean not _because_ of you. But because I enjoyed the time I spent with you more than I did with my own girlfriend. I figured that wasn’t a good sign. So I ended things.”

“ _You_ ended things?” Amy asked. Jake nodded. “Wow. I always thought she did.” Jake gaped at her. “Well you just seemed torn up afterward. I figured it was because you’d been dumped.”

Jake laughed. “No I was actually the dumper. Shocking, I know.”

“I gotta say, sometimes it feels good being the dumper,” Amy acknowledged.

Jake went with the natural flow of the conversation rather than biting his tongue. “Were you? With Bill?”

Amy looked up at him, surprised. “Um, yes. No? I don’t know. It kinda all just fell apart.” Jake nodded, not really pressing her to continue. “He got a huge job offer in Boston and he took it without even asking me. And he told me I could come with him or we could break up. And I had been starting the process to try and become a detective and so I stayed.” Jake took a drink, letting the information linger between them.

Amy looked back at him. “So do you think it was better or worse that I was the one you’re seemingly dating?” Jake looked confused. “For Veronica. I know she always hated how much time we spent together.”

“Yeah, she did. That was…another reason,” Jake replied vaguely.

“That you broke up with her?” Amy asked, a shocked look on her face.

“Mhmm. I didn’t want her dictating my life. And I liked spending time with you,” Jake said, mostly honest. Amy looked sad. “What’s wrong? What did I say?”

Amy smiled sadly. “Nothing. Just…” she sighed, “Good for you that when she gave you an ultimatum you did what you actually wanted to. Good for you that you weren’t a coward.” Jake stared at her in confusion. She took a sip of her drink and continued. “Bill gave me an ultimatum. He was upset by how much I saw you. How much time I spent with you. How much I talked about you to him. So he gave me an ultimatum, him or you. And like an idiot, I chose him.”

Jake nodded solemnly. Without looking at her he replied, “I kinda figured.”

“But I was a coward. I was too afraid to examine everything I was feeling,” Amy said nervously.

“Oh?”

Amy looked up at Jake with a glint of courage in her eyes. “I really liked you. But I was too cowardly to break up with Bill. I planned it like ten times and I never went through with it. I could never give up a long relationship for something I wasn’t sure about. I figured there was no way you saw me as anything more than a friend.”

Jake chuckled. “Yeah, well you were wrong about that.”

“I was?” Amy asked, hope tinging her voice.

Jake stared at her. “Yeah. I never let myself admit that I broke up with her for you because you were with someone else. But it was a big part of it. I had feelings for you. Strong ones. Which kind of made it all that much harder when you ghosted.”

Amy looked upset. “I’m really sorry, Jake. Honestly. I’ve hated myself for that for years. I should have handled that better.” She paused for a moment. “No, I should have just not given in to his ultimatum. I should have been brave enough to choose you. Like you did.”

There was a long pause where they were just staring at each other. Jake was thinking through everything that had been said.

Amy finally spoke again. “A few months after Bill moved, I finally worked up the courage to talk to you again. I figured I should do it in person so I could apologize to your face. I went to the 8-5 to talk to you. But you had already transferred. I lost my spark of courage. I figured you hated me, so I let it go.”

Jake smiled sadly. “I didn’t hate you. I just missed you.”

There was another pause between them. Amy shrugged. “Well, I guess you don’t have to miss me anymore, Partner,” she joked.

Jake felt his stomach drop. He’d been hoping this conversation had been building to something. But if she was throwing “partner” around, it probably wasn’t building toward anything.

“Now that we’re partners,” Jake said, interrupting the silence between them, “we really shouldn’t keep stuff from each other anymore. You know, because it’s bad for the partnership.”

Amy nodded in agreement. She reached out and grabbed his hand. He looked at her curiously. “Look, Jake, we’ve been partners for 10 days. And it’s been great. Already better than my last two partners. And I don’t want to mess it up. But I can’t keep this in. I’ve kept it in for over three years,” she said with a sigh. “I really –”

Jake cut off her declaration with a kiss. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She responded immediately, laying her hands on the side of his neck. His heart felt like it was soaring. He’d been waiting so long for this. They moved closer until there was no space between them. They kissed until there was no air left. They pulled apart with an audible smack.

Jake stared at her intensely. “Me too,” he said breathlessly. She smiled impossibly wide, running her fingers through his hair. She pulled him back in for a longer kiss.

Later that night, Jake laid awake in bed, replaying everything that had happened that day. He laughed as he remembered that earlier he’d thought the high point would be making the arrest. He’d been so wrong. He heard his phone buzz on his nightstand. He reached over and saw he had a text from Amy.

**If you’re awake, I may be about to do something really stupid.**

He replied immediately.

**What does that mean?**

He was waiting for a reply but it never came. Instead, he heard a knock at his door. He jumped out of bed, ignoring the fact that he was about to answer the door in a t-shirt and boxers.  He opened the door and there she was.

“Amy? What –”

She cut him off with a kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, already deepening the kiss. He needed no encouragement to respond. He pulled her further inside, slamming the door and pushing her against it. His hands were running all over her.  She moaned as moved his mouth to her neck. It just spurred him on. One of her hands was in his hair, holding his head there while the other clutched desperately at his back. She lifted one leg, trailing it along his leg before she curled it against his hip. He moved back to kissing her, his tongue invading her mouth, as he grabbed her leg that was curled around him.

She pulled her head back and they were both panting as they stared at each other intensely. It was clear how desperate they both were for the other. She put her hands on either side of his face, almost caressing him. “Bedroom. Now,” she said barely above a whisper. She pulled back her leg and he leaned back in for another kiss. He pulled her away from the door, not breaking apart. They stripped off their clothes as he guided her back to his room, always touching her.

They were laying in his bed later, both completely spent. She rolled over to look at him. “We’re idiots.” He looked over at her with a confused stare. She shook her head humoredly. “We could have been doing this for years,” she explained as she rolled on to her back again. He laughed with her.

He leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “Maybe we just weren’t ready yet.”

Amy looked at him skeptically. “What? You think we had to grow first?”

Jake smirked. “Who knows?”

Amy rolled over and moved on top of him. “Well I’m done growing. I just want you.”

Jake leaned up and kissed her. “I think I’m good with that,” he said. She smirked as she leaned down to kiss him more.

**Present Day**

“Jake! Where are we going? We’re supposed to be with Rosa and Charles following Augustine. Isn’t it _your_ case?” Amy asked.

Jake looked over at Amy when he reached the first red light. “Yeah, we’re meeting up with them in a bit.”

“So where are we going?” Amy asked again.

Jake looked over at her with a mischievous grin. “It’s a surprise.”

They’d been partners for a year. They’d been a couple for ten days short of a year. After the bar and what happened at his apartment, they’d never been happier. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Of course, they did their best at work. They were professionals after all. But sometimes Amy would walk by Jake’s desk and touch the back of his head sweetly. Sometimes Jake would get up from eating lunch with her and he’d kiss her on the head. One time he was really ambitious and he slouched in his chair to play footsie with Amy under their desks. Gina could tell what was happening so he sat back up.

They were still partners and they hadn’t ruined it. They were a great team at work and at home. He loved Amy. He was confident that he’d never loved anyone as much as he loved Amy. And she often told him how much she loved him back. The last year had been the best year of Jake’s life. Without a doubt.

He’d walked into work, still trying to decide the best way he could propose to Amy. He had a ring stashed in a secret drawer in his apartment. He was still trying to plan some grand proposal until Terry called him over to read a letter from a victim to his wife.

It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever read. All about how he loved his wife and how he only wished he’d had more time to spend with her. Seemed like the guy knew something bad was going to go down. Surprisingly, Jake didn’t ask for the details of the case. His head was somewhere else. He’d always wished he’d had those three years with Amy. She’d echoed similar sentiments. Reading the letter, Jake made up his mind. He was ready to spend the rest of his life with Amy Santiago and he was going to do it now.

He had gotten Amy to join him and he was driving to a park she liked to go to sometimes. It was peaceful and beautiful. Especially this time of year.

He parked in front and she looked out the window before looking back at him. “What are we doing here?”

Jake shrugged. “Just needed a break from work.” She nodded in understanding and followed him.

They sat down on a bench and Jake tried desperately to think of how to start.

Finally he turned to her. He just decided to speak his mind. He smiled at her saying, “Do you know how happy I’ve been the last year?” She smiled back and held his hand. “And it’s all because of you. Because you came back into my life. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Ames. I mean that. You’re an amazing person. And I honestly can’t believe you’ve willingly been with me for almost a year.” She laughed and held his hand tighter. He slowly moved from the bench and down on one knee in front of her. She gasped softly, still holding onto one of his hands. “And if you’re willing, I’d like to spend the rest of my years with you.” A large smile graced her face. He spoke past the lump in his throat. “Amy Santiago, will you marry me?”

She launched herself off the bench at him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He fell back and she landed on top of him. She pulled back and kissed him. “Yes! Of course!” He leaned up and kissed her deeply.

When they got up off the ground, he looked sheepishly at her. “I don’t have the ring with me. It’s at home. Is it still a yes?”

Amy looked unsure for a minute and then laughed. “Of course, you idiot!” She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him lightly. “I will happily spend the rest of my years with you, Jake Peralta.”

They met up with Rosa and Charles. They’d decided to keep the focus on the case and wait to tell everyone they were engaged. Charles would surely be distracted if he knew. They got in the van with the other detectives and drove to tail Augustine. They stopped outside a fancy restaurant. “Guess he’s having dinner with his side piece first,” Rosa commented.

“Oh hey!” Amy exclaimed. “This is where Jake and I had our first date.”

Charles whipped around to look at Amy. “Oh yeah? Was it incredibly romantic? You guys never gave me the details.”

“And we aren’t now,” Jake said, cutting him off.

They altered their clothes to make them look less like cops and walked inside to follow Augustine. When they were told there was no room for them, Amy thought on her toes. She threw her hands around Jake’s arm and talked about how they’d just gotten engaged. She was telling the complete truth except for the name changes. Sure enough, they got a table.

They ended up next to Augustine and his lady who happened to be full of questions.

“So when did you guys meet?” Augustine asked.

“Last year,” Amy said.

“Five years ago,” Jake said at the same time.

They both laughed nervously. “We first met five years ago…” Amy started. She looked lovingly at Jake. He thought of everything they’d been through together. She smiled at him like she was thinking the same thing. “But we don’t count it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching Johnny and Dora (for the thousandth time) when I realized this would be a great fic to write for them.  
> Please let me know what you thought of it! I love reading comments! Comments and kudos mean the world to me.  
> Feel free to come chat with me on tumblr too! I'm three-drink-amy!


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